The Company @ Bloomfield College Presents a Staged Reading of ANOWA

Anowa

The Company @ Bloomfield College will present a staged reading of ANOWA on Thursday, April 4, and Friday, April 5. Both readings will begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Center for Creativity+Technology at Bloomfield College.

ANOWA, a provocative drama by acclaimed Ghanian playwright Ama Ata Aidoo, examines the tensions emanating from gender, race, and class inequalities in Victorian era Ghana.

Amy Estes, a co-founder of Marvell Repertory Theatre (2011–2014), a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway company in New York, will direct the staged reading.

"I loved the idea of exposing Bloomfield College students and the Bloomfield community to this play by Ama Ata Aidoo, the first woman to have a play published in Africa,” said Estes. “Anowa is an intelligent, ambitious, principled young woman who is trapped and ultimately ruined by cultural expectations that she cannot support. It struck me that even in today's America, when women and people of color challenge historically dominant cultural narratives, they face judgment and danger.”

“That makes Anowa's tale of life along the Gold Coast in the 1870s especially worthy of attention right now," Estes continued. "The staged reading format, in which actors and audience focus on the language of the script rather than a play's design elements, allows The Company to give voice to a great play without the expense of a fully-staged production."

The Company @ Bloomfield College's staged reading of ANOWA, under the artistic direction of professor Dr. Fiona (Freddie) Harris, features Bloomfield College students Elizabeth Agyapong, Joseph Darby, Naja Long, Joshua McLean, Precious Olubiyi, Delores Oppong Ntow, and T'shaka Thorpe, and staff member and alumna Celeste Walden-Kelley. Bloomfield College students Tenasha Simpson and Destin Johnson serve as stage manager and dramaturg.

Suggested donation $15. FREE for Bloomfield College students.

 

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